A mother board and one or more daughter boards are used to transfer digital signals between respective assemblies used in a computer or other electronic equipment. The mother and daughter boards may be arranged perpendicular to each other, as in an "edge card" configuration, depending upon the design of the overall product.
In a variety of other product applications, the prior art has used compressible electrical connectors which are well known in the electronic industry. These compressible electrical connectors include a plurality of closely-spaced conductive elements or traces photographically etched or otherwise formed on a flexible film which is bonded to an elastomeric core or other suitable carrier. Under its trademark "AMPLIFLEX", AMP Incorporated of Harrisburg, Pa., supplies a wide variety of such compressible electrical connectors to the electronic and aerospace industries.
Because of their relatively-high circuit densities, it would be desirable to use these "AMPLIFLEX" compressible electrical connectors in certain product applications having mother/daughter board configurations. However, because the daughter board is slidably inserted into the mother board, perpendicularly thereof, the compressible electrical connector may become damaged inadvertently.
It is important, therefore, to have a very low or substantially zero insertion force (sometimes called the "ZIF") to preclude damage to the compressible electrical connector. This is required for insertion of the boards during assembly of the equipment in production as well as withdrawal of the boards during maintenance and service of the equipment in the field.